Newbie Setup Help Needed...

[scaramonga]

Hello all!!

OK, be gentle lol :)

Ordering this tomorrow, will u guys let me know if this setup is OK??

I'm residing in Dunfermline, UK (Scotland) with quite large open spaces around where I live.

58.4m from Glasgow Airport
81.3m from Prestwick Airport
14.7m from Edinburgh Airport

Items I'm gonna order are:

RADARBOX-2010   
RADAR-COM-20 RADAR-EXTENDER Antenna, A12-1090, BT-12, all necessary coax leads 20m BT-12-PSU (full kit with pre-amp)
BT-12-PSU UK mains 230V power supply for Elad BT-12   
AR-108 Maycom Airband Receiver (any better alternative welcomed)   
WBA-20 Airband Base Vertical (for above and any better alternative welcomed)

Wasting my time? lol or is that OK??

Any good advice much appreciated guys.

Many thx :)

[nortonbeak]

Thats quite a set up!

The preferred pre-amp seems to be the Kuhne over the Elad, but I don't have experience of either.

The Maycom won't be the best ever scanner but I would see how you get on with it before blowing more cash on something with more bells and whistles.

Best of luck.

You will likely find, as it has for the rest of us, that it will open up vast areas of interest. You will find yourself fascinated for hours on end.

[tarbat]

Looks like an excellent Radarbox setup.   Great to see another user in Scotland!!   To give you a taster, here's the current network view of aircraft in your area.

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi scaramonga, I hope you're shopping around for your items, as some charge over the odds. Is your location high and in the clear?    I'd be trying the system without a pre-amp (how high will the antenna be sited and how much co-ax do you need? bear in mind, you need a 20mm hole for a N-type plug to pass through), and probably go for a Uniden BearCat scanner.   What co-ax are you ordering?    Good luck, let us know how you get on!

[scaramonga]

Thx guys :)

Any where I can get this stuff much cheaper then? They all seem to average same prices from where I've checked. I reckon I'll need 10-15m of cable and it is the Westflex 103 low loss flavour, which I take it will be OK?  Antenna will be sited on top of 4 block building using a mast, which should give a good clear line of sight in all directions. :)

Thx for network taster tarbat :)

[Jeremy]

If you have your antenna up on top of a 4 story building them I would not bother with the pre-amp. W103 is fine but would not go with more tham 15m of coax.
Good luck. I think you should see amazing results depending on your geographical line of sight.
J.

[pjm]

I reckon I'll need 10-15m of cable and it is the Westflex 103 low loss flavour, which I take it will be OK?  Antenna will be sited on top of 4 block building using a mast, which should give a good clear line of sight in all directions. :)

I would also suggest the pre-amp may not be required. I got pretty much the same setup as you, with 10 metres of Westflex 103 co-ax, and with the pre-amp inline and powered I actually receive LESS aircraft that with it off. I bought a second pre-amp thinking the first one was faulty with the same result.

The consensus at the time was that the pre-amp is actually overloading the Radarbox.